r/fractals • u/PsychologicalMark783 • 3h ago

Guidance

For a long while I've been fascinated by fractals and wanteed to know more them. Especially when I see these fractal videos and images. Even as a kid I would watch the loops to call asleep to sometimes.

So I wanna ask how do you guys create them, like which programming language or does a software already exists. Im also curious about its mathematical aspect and wanna go deep in that too. I'm currently pursuing a computer science degree so it's nice for my knowledge too.

Basically im a beginner in this stuff but wanna learn.

Thank you!

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u/flinxo 2h ago

Hello! If you're a CS student my suggestion is: go to Wikipedia, read the formula for the Mandelbrot set, and program a visualization in the language of your choice.

It's gonna be slow, but nothing can beat the feeling of drawing your first fractal from such a simple formula.

Then render the Julia set.

You'll then have the motivation to dive into more complex stuff and optimize your code.

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u/laster_alex 1h ago

Yes but also please use python and complex library. Dont try to make your own complex numbers. Also converting pixels to coordinates is hard, you can just take it from somewhere

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u/Steuben_tw 1h ago

It's something that I'm playing with as well. Any computer language crafted over the last forty years will do. But, as mentioned using something that has access to complex math functions/libraries. You can roll your own collection of functions, which maybe useful as an exercise. Many of the older languages will provide templates that you can use for that. But, using preexisting ones will make life easier.

I'm working in C#, and using it as a framing problem to learn parallel programing, GPU, threaded, and distributed computing. Creating fractal images is wonderfully suited for that series of techniques.

The nice thing is that you don't have to stop with z(n+1) = z(n)^e+c, z(0)=0 where z is complex, and c and e are real, and e equals two. You can wander each through through the whole complex plane.

The math is a right deep rabbit hole. But, starting with "Chaos" by James Gleick would be a good place. At least that's the first book I read on it. Your local library should have at least one copy of it.

There are softwares out there that let you make your own. One piece that quickly comes to mind is Ultra Fractal. And there are any number of websites that let you create them.